The present invention relates to internal combustion engines of the gasoline or diesel type having reciprocating pistons and in particular relates to engines where charge compression is completed at a position remote from the power generator.
A host of different internal combustion engines have been proposed as alternatives to the standard four cycle engine. The Wankle engine departs materially from the principle of reciprocating pistons, however fails to achieve the increased efficiency presently being sought by automobile manufacturers. A number of different turbine engines have been proposed, however these too have disadvantages with respect to high cost. To a large extent recent improvements in engine efficiency have been achieved by improving the combustion process by means of different combustion chamber shapes, stratified charge, as but some examples. Increased power in smaller displacement engines has been achieved by turbo charging. Cam driven engines such as found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,274,982 Noguchi et al, variable combustion chamber volume as found in Owen U.S. Pat. No. 1,443,885 and variable compressor output engines where the compressor is physically separated from the power generator and the output of the compressor varies in accordance with engine requirements are examples of other proposed engine designs.
Cam driven engines have to date not received wide acceptance primarily due to their higher cost and difficulty in providing a simple cam profile in combination with positive piston return. Variable output compressors have been proposed, however it is difficult to match the compressor output with the engine requirements due to a lag introduced due to charge transmission, as well as a lag due to the time required for the compressor to achieve the desired output. Fixed displacement compressors in internal combustion engines have suffered as they have been sized for maximum horsepower and at reduced speeds have not been controlled in a manner to reduce the energy required to drive the compressor.